My Missy was diagnosed with CKD little over a weeks ago. Her doctor could only see one kidney by way of xray. She was very ill, so she spent 4 days hospitalized. During her stay she received fluids through IV. However, we could not get her to eat. They eventually syringed fed her. She looked so much better by day 2 of her stay. Upon her release her doctor recommended sub cutaneous fluid treatment twice a week and be placed a special diet and something to bind the phosphorous.

She's been home five days now and I cannot get her to eat. I've tried Prescription K/D and Felin Renal modified, in dry and wet formulas. The most I get her to do is a couple of licks of food. So, I've been giving her old food, which she eats only a few kibbles.

I don't know what to do. Can anyone recommend food low in phosphorous that cats seem to like.

I'm sorry to hear of your problems with Missy. As SCM said the main thing is to get food into her, and I wouldn't be surprised if it means syringe feeding yourself. It's really not that difficult, and once the cats realize what you're doing they can become extremely tolerant of the feeding method. Your vet should be able to walk you through the procedure. Basically what I did was to wrap the cat in a towel to feed them. I used a good quality canned meat for example Wellness Cat Food. You will want a food that will be able to be puréed in a blender or food processor and liquefied a bit more so it will pass through a syringe. I found that I had to drill a syringe out to 1/8 inch diameter so I could get any small lumps to pass through it. I put a small piece of fish tank air hose on the syringe about 3 inches long in order to put the food into the corner of the cat's mouth. The art in feeding is take your time, and I found that a 20 or 25 mL syringe worked quite well.

How is Missy's mouth? Is she suffering from any ulcers or bad breath? Can you hear or feel any grinding in the back of the lower jaw? Did the vet tell you what stage Missy was in with the CKD? Something that would be handy would be her bloodwork readings I know some of the other members would be interested in them. In the meantime I'm enclosing a couple of websites for starters that could be of interest to you if you haven't already found them.

Once we get Missy eating we will worry about the phosphorus in foods but the main thing is keep her on canned food and away from kibbles. She needs all the moisture she can get, and adding a bit of moisture to the food is easiest way to get the moisture into her. In the 2 websites you'll find charts dealing with phosphorus levels in different brand names of cat food.